Councillors refuse plans for 300 homes in Lincoln village

Councillors have rejected plans for 300 homes in a village near Lincoln, despite officers recommending that permission be granted.

West Lindsey District Council’s planning committee voted to refuse proposals on agricultural land south of Hawthorn Road in the village of Cherry Willingham.

The applicant proposed a mix of two and three-storey houses, with 75 of the houses being classed as affordable under the government’s National Planning Policy Framework.

The development would also have had a range of properties, including starter homes and those suited to the needs of elderly people.

Council officers had recommended that councillors approve the development, subject to agreements over education and healthcare provision.

However, Councillor Giles McNeill moved a motion to refuse the application, citing concerns about the location of the development in what he considered to be the “open countryside”, and the potential impact on transport.

“There are questions over the suitability and harm that will be done to this area given its position in the open countryside,” he added.

Councillor Owen Bierley said: “You can build houses pretty quickly – we see this day in, day out. You can’t build communities quickly. It needs to grow organically and then you can assimilate the new people into life in that community.

“When you’re talking about rural Lincolnshire and West Lindsey in particular, that is a really important point.”

Vice chairman of the planning committee, Councillor Ian Fleetwood, moved the officers’ recommendation but was outvoted at the meeting on July 27.

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